The monk of Mokha - Dave Eggers

From the best-selling author of The Circle - the gripping true story of a young Yemeni American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee but finds himself trapped in Sana'a by civil war

Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four and working as a doorman when he becomes fascinated with the rich history of coffee and Yemen's central place in it. He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral home to tour terraced farms high in the country's rugged mountains. He collects samples and organizes farmers and is on the verge of success when civil war engulfs the country. Saudi bombs rain down, the U.S. embassy closes, and Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen with only his hopes on his back.

The Monk of Mokha is the story of this courageous and visionary young man following the most American of dreams.

'Extraordinary... No story is more urgent' Observer

'Dramatic, aspirational smartly and engagingly written... Exactly what I want to read right now' The Times

'The antidote to Trumpism... This is a book that celebrates [the] exuberance of the human spirit' Mail on Sunday

'This book... is about the American dream, and the threat that it is under' Spectator

'Remarkable... full of derring-do, tenacity and exceptional luck' Metro